Sharp LC-15L1E Wireless LCD TV review

Full Review

The summer is here (he says writing this in the garden soaking up the sun that we rarely get in the UK) but with a summer of sport in front of us how on earth are we going to watch Euro 2004, the Olympics, Wimbledon and all the other sporting events and still get outside. One option is to install French doors in your house and then turn the television around so you can sit in the garden. A bit of a pain though. Sharp, however have another idea and have created what they think will be the answer to catching the sport or soaps and topping up on your tan this summer.

The LC-15L1E Wireless LCD TV is a 15” flat panel LCD television that comes with one important ingredient- a battery pack. Charging up the rechargeable battery makes this slimline television portable. The design is very sleek. It comes with its own stereo speakers and a stand when it's in your preferred location. Designed for portability in mind there's a large handle on the rear of the unit, the forementioned rechargeable battery's socket, component video and audio sockets. As well as those interfaces the S-Video slot lets enabled playback devices such as camcorders connect quickly.

By this point you are probably pondering where the television signal goes in, does it have a crappy aerial on top that you have to bend and twist as you roam around the house. Well the answer is that all of these functions are perfomed via the base unit that sends a wireless signal to the television wherever it is. With this unit, that sits behind your current television set up you can connect a plethora of more units such as DVD players, videos or satellite decoders. Sockets include: 2x SCART, video and audio phonos, an AV-IN3 and analogue TV in and out. In the box is an infrared remote controller to allow you to control your other devices with the same remotes.

Signal strength in our tests was good with the suggested range of 15metres easily living up to its statement, and we had no problem on a full battery (these roughly last around 2 hours) enough to watch a game or average-length movies.

Verdict

What's great about this unit is that the signal comes from a box connected into the main aerial of your house and isn't the device being moved around. Also great is that the unit is battery powered so you can take this into the garden, watch your programme and then simply pick it up and come back inside. Your signal strength will determine picture quality however in our tests signal strength was great and added remote control offered the option of changing everything you could want like brightness, contrast etc. What's the catch? Probably the price, at £1400 this isn't cheap and if you're looking at only taking this into the garden the money might be better spent on a can of white paint and a projector, however if your looking for this to be a television to share in the bedroom, the garden and the kitchen, sometimes you have to spoil yourself. Just as in the PC market, bear in mind that £1400 would also get you quite a luxurious non-portable TV.

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